“The photograph of Salvador Dali and Phillipe Halsman, “In voluptate mors” (which was iself inspired by Salvador Dali’s gouache Female Bodies as a Skull painting), was removed by FB as somebody had reported the image on grounds of Nudity. My first instance of Moral policing. Facebook says “Facebook has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and imposes limitations on the display of nudity. At the same time, we aspire to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo’s David or family photos of a child breastfeeding.”I wonder who the kind soul was who reported? I also wonder why Salvador Dali didn’t resort to Breastfeeding so that his work could be shared? I wonder if FB is paying attention to all this?” Avi Das..https://www.facebook.com/avi.das1

Serial killer movie “The silence of the lambs”, used the picture as a small detail of the poster, by employing it as a motif in the moth’s head (you can click on the image, to see it with some more detail).
The skull image idea, was reportedly given to the agency that designed the poster, by director Jonathan Demme, specifically for use in the film’s poster artwork.

The second use, in the poster for British horror flick “The Descent”, was not so subtle, with the obvious difference being that the women in the poster are all dressed in hiking attire, to match the movies’s subject.
If you haven’t seen it yet and like horror movies, I highly recommend it!

RANCHI: Posters warning of serious consequences like acid attacks if women wore jeans and tops created panic across the city on Tuesday but police refused to react to the threats and had made no arrests throughout the day.Written in red ink, these posters by a group calling itself Jharkhand Mukti Sangh were seen at Albert Ekka Chowk, outside the office of the registrar and St John School at around 9.30am. They were deliberately penned in red ink to give the impression that they were the handiwork of a rebel group, said police.

“We are not taking the posters seriously as we feel some miscreants are behind them. But we will investigate,” said DGP G S Rath, adding to the insecurity created among the city’s women.

“The police should immediately look into the matter and take action. If they are not booked, it will be very difficult for us to move around freely,” said a girl student of St Xavier’s College. She was furious with the group. “They are behaving like the Taliban. Recently a khap panchayat also decreed that girls would be punished for wearing jeans. I don’t know why they have started this moral policing,” she said on condition her identity be kept secret for fear of reprisal.

The chairperson of the State Women’s Commission, Hemlata S Mohan, was shocked. “There is no justification for such posters. We cannot allow the girls to be targeted in this fashion,” said Mohan.

The posters also warned of violence against job seekers in Jharkhand who are not domiciles of the state. “Outsiders” planning to buy land in the state have also not been spared, just as companies have been warned about the backlash if they displace people.

“I was called by the District Education Officer to join as a 10+2 teacher. AMCM members asked me to leave the state or face violence,” said Bihari over phone.

AMCM president, Kamlesh Ram, said no leniency would be shown while dealing with outsiders. “Outsiders cannot enjoy the fruits of the state at the cost of the tribals.” He added that the tribals had fought for their rights and a separate state. Now that they have it, they should be the first claimants over its resources.

Senior BJP leader, Raghubar Das, said the Constitution grants Indians the right to live anywhere they want. “Any attempt to challenge this right is condemnable. The police should immediately launch a probe. It might be the handiwork of some antisocial elements,” said Das.

Rashtriya Janata Dal state president, Girinath Singh, did not turn down the possibility of the involvement of some splinter group. “I want immediate action. The government’s failure has caused the people to stand up in protest. It is in fact a fallout of the domicile policy,” remarked Singh.

The efficacy of the intelligence system was also questioned. “It shows that the intelligence system has failed,” said Singh.

Threats of this kind are an unpleasant surprise anywhere, but even more so in a city like Ranchi which has long had a cosmopolitan culture. The government should not take such threats lightly, because they do tend to intimidate people even if those issuing the threat are only a fringe group. Outfits that take it upon themselves to do ‘moral policing’ must be dealt with firmly by the state. Firm action by the government at this stage can nip the menace in the bud. Any laxity shown in this respect is likely to encourage not just this group but other potential vigilantes

MUMBAI: An NCP MLC has succeeded in goading the city’s mayor into playing the moral police. The latest victim is the film Jism 2, starring Sunny Leone, whose posters will now have to be removed from all BEST buses.

NCP MLC Vidya Chavan knocked on the doorsof chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, state home minister R R Patil, the special branch of Mumbai police, BMC commissioner Sitaram Kunte and ultimately city mayor Sunil Prabhu over the last couple of days, finally eliciting the response she was looking for from Prabhu.

The mayor took up the matter with the BEST and the BMC administrations and, by Wednesday evening, every “objectionable” poster was removed from 75 BEST buses and 25 depots, besides electricity poles and bus shelters.

The strange alacrity with which the BMC and the BEST responded drew sharp protests from legal experts and Bollywood fraternity and even other politicians.

IPS officer-turned-lawyer Y P Singh found the entire exercise a violation of personal freedom. “There are specific laws to deal with this. People having objections should have approached a court of law and it was for the court to give whatever directives it deemed fit,” he added.

A Congress MLA from the western suburbs thought it was unfair to judge the film by its posters. “Aren’t we jumping the gun and infringing on someone else’s freedom?” he asked.

Legal expert Mihir Desai felt it was completely unjustified. “The level of tolerance is going down in Mumbai and, instead of focusing on law and order, the administration wants to impose its own morality on the city,” he added.

Filmmaker and writer Mahesh Bhatt, whose daughter Pooja was the producer of the film, said he had decided to remove the posters from all over Mumbai as “it was a battle not worth fighting”. He said he had decided to replace the old posters with new ones.

“Censoring images created by the human mind has been going on since the dark ages. In recent times, I remember Qurban’s posters were pulled down by the moral police. I guess the more things change, the more they remain the same. Individual freedom has always been trampled upon under the name of larger good by the political class,” Bhatt said.

But will all this affect the film’s business? Trade analyst Amod Mehra said, “This will not affect the box-office business of the film.” Another trade pundit said there was a lot of curiosity about the film.

The moral brigade, however, saw things differently. “What is the film industry’s definition ofentertainment these days? Is making money their only motto? We talk about sexual harassment of women and the next thing we see nude posters on BEST buses and electric poles. What is the message we are giving to the youth? The Jism 2 posters are downright vulgar. Even school-going kids get to see them on roads,” was Chavan’s logic. Chavan was actively involved in closing of dance bars in the past.

Prabhu said instructions were issued to the BEST general manger to issue notices to advertising contractors to remove the posters immediately. BEST general manager Om Prakash Gupta said, “We received a message from BMC officials that the posters were objectionable and I immediately advised the contractors to remove them.”

A representative from Rakesh Advertising that handles the advertising rights for BEST buses, told TOI: “We had overlooked the posters and it was not done intentionally. I personally received a request from Gupta and ordered my men to go to all 25 depots and remove posters from 75 buses within an hour.” The posters were also removed from other areas including bus stops and electricity police subsequently.

Civic chief Sitaram Kunte said the BMC was “concerned only with properties belonging to the BMC”. “There was a complaint from Chavan and I asked the BEST general manager to check for violations in obscenity clauses and take the necessary corrective action on BEST stands, buses and electric poles. We have nothing against the movie. We shall verify about the obscenity,” he added.

Khuturam Sunani says large number of posters were seen in villages in Nuapada district of Odisha asking people to take permission from Maoists before filing nominations in upcoming Panchayat elections. After that many candidates have got frightened and have not filed their application. Now Maoists have told that though they are opposed to elections but those posters were fake. For more Khuturam Ji can be reached at 09437657625